Your Everyday Heroes spotlights the stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. In doing so, we wish to break down the belief that the word “hero” is reserved only for fictional characters or the rich and famous. Because when we attach heroism to standards that are unattainable for most people, we are dismissing our own potential to be heroes.
In reality, the greatest heroes are the hard-working folks whose labor forms the backbone of our society. And when we come to realize this, the notion that we ourselves can be heroes doesn’t seem so farfetched.
To properly express our conviction, we present to you a very special Your Everyday Heroes episode: “Behind the Scenes.”
Learn More About The Purpose of “Behind the Scenes” HERE
We tasked Pakistani film director Ali Imran Ch to create a TV commercial that illustrates the Your Everyday Heroes ideology: that even common people have the ability to be heroic. If you’ve been following this season of YEDH, you’ll already have seen some of Ch’s work. He and his film crew did an excellent job of directing Umar Mughal’s inspiring episode.
As Ch puts it: “Take, for example, an apple: whenever I say the word ‘apple,’ the audience will automatically recognize its color and shape… because this is what we’ve always seen in the books. Similarly, when we talk about heroes… we think of Superman, we think of Batman.”
Ch’s goal with this project is to change that perception.
Find Out How A Hero Is Born
Before filming the commercial, Ch meets with his team for a brainstorming session. He has come prepared with ideas, suggesting that the ad opens with dramatic “superhero” music playing underneath a narrator’s voice: “Some heroes are created. Some choose their own paths. As a child, I believed in many things. I believed in the magic of heroes. But as I grew, I began to see that it was all a mirage… these things don’t exist. The true heroes walk among us.”
And with that, the hero within us all is born.
Watch The Film Crew Realizes Their Own Heroism
Filming the ad obviously got Ch and his team thinking about their personal definitions of heroism. It opened them up to the idea that by filming this project, they themselves were engaging in a heroic act.
“A character is defined by the choices they make,” Ch tells us. “And everyone in the world has this one power: the power of choice… I started filmmaking because I admired this enormous power cinema has. You can create your own world, create your own characters, and it’s up to you how you manipulate them.”
Just as a filmmaker is given the choice of what messages to send with their projects, a person is given the choice to act heroically. And Ch and his team were choosing to use their artistic talents to spread positivity, undeniably the heroic choice.
“If my video brings positivity into anyone’s life, that will mean that I am successful in achieving my goal,” Ch says.
Conclusion
Ch’s end result was a brief, yet effective TV commercial that showcased the value of everyday people. We are so grateful to Ali Imran Ch and his film crew for all the excellent work they have done for us. Our filmmakers are truly the unsung heroes of Your Everyday Heroes.
